Covet
by uhnope
Summary: Can a strong desire to want something make you insane? A pair of mysterious girls show up in Dreamland, one with her heart set on the throne. However, a first glimpse of a knight's wings, and she has something else on her wishlist. Can she be stopped?
1. Prologue

I do not own any characters from the Kirby anime.

~Prologue~

Canines glinting darkly in the inky gloom, she stepped up to the helm of her ship, gripping the steering mechanism tightly with both paws. Crimson eyes flashing, she scanned the dark expanse of space around her through the windshield, grinning slightly as she saw a miniscule speck in the distance melt into a faraway planet. "There it is..." she said softly, to herself as she eased on the speed. Her pointed ears pricked up tall when she heard a sound from the back of the room, and her plumy tail began to bristle, but relaxed as she realized who it was. The captain turned her head a bit to stare daggers at the noisemaker for interrupting her self-joy. The person in the back groaned again, and in irritation, the captain switched her ship to Auto Pilot. She stalked to her guest, paws curled into fists and her claws digging into her palm as she approached.

The forlorn creature was slumped against the wall, near the door that led outside the ship, into space. Taut around its throat was a heavy metal collar, fastened to the wall by a coil of chain. Its appearance was of scruffy, short fur and dull green eyes. Its ears were tall and bat-like like the captain's, it also possessed a fluffy tail as well, only it was matted into untidy clumps. Its ribs protruded visibly from its chest and its her entire air reeked of ill-treatment and defeat. She recoiled as the captain's shadow fell over her. "Miss Gothara, I..." she murmured, and flinched as the captain called Gothara raised a threatening fist.

"No, you didn't." Gothara growled ominously, and grabbed the coil of chain that kept the slave in place. She yanked it roughly, making the girl pitch onto her face, and jabbed her with a foot, "I told you not to complain, Iri, your life could be a thousand times worse. Would you like me to make it a thousand times worse? Do you want to know how airless space can be?"

"N-no..." whimpered Iri, and recieved a brutal kick in her visibly showing ribs. Gothara sneered,

"'No' what?"

"N-no, Miss Gothara...I apologize for my laspe in etiqitte. I will not complain again." Iri said shakily, and Gothara's shadow moved away from her. She picked herself up from the floor, too quickly however, and stifled the sudden urge to vomit the little food she had. Horribly weak, she leaned on the cooled wall again, trying to force down her nausea. Mommy always said that Gothara was slipping away, and now her baby sister was gone. Iri remembered the last thing Mommy had told her: _Gothara is dangerous. Beware, Iri. _Then a knife was found in her ribcage the next day...

If a person was stabbed between the third and fourth rib, they can't scream.

She could hear Gothara's indignant murmuring from the ship's helm.

Gothara gripped the steering handles and snarled to herself, "Mommy said I could have whatever I want. Mommy said I was her little angel, Mommy said she loved me...and she _didn't give me the throne!_" Outraged, she slammed her paws on the handles, making the ship lurch sideways, before she steadied it again, "Mommy thought I was spoiled, she thought I was bad, and Iri was good. She thought Iri was her angel, and I was insane...and what did Mommy get for saying that? Mommy gets my fury, my anger, and now look where she is! She feeds the worms now!"

She gave a spurt of crazed, malicious laughter and muttered, "Mommy said no, but I can get it myself! Iri tried to stop me, and look what that got her!" She turned her head, and with a wild light playing in her eyes, sneered, "Big Sis is my slave! Mommy's precious angel is my slave! How do you like that?" Wild grin stretched unnaturally on her face, Gothara cried out when the approaching planet came into view, "Popstar! Yes, Mommy, Gothie will soon be your queen, and you will wish you had said yes..." Gothara let another hysterical laugh out into the small ship as she began to breach the atmosphere.

_Covet_


	2. Chapter 1: SugarCoated Stranger

~Chapter 1~ 

A winged shadow swam over the trees below, a constant river of forest until the dark smoke filing through the air blotted out the sight. After that, there were nothing but fallen, broken, and flaming trees scattered around. The culprit was visible at the end of a huge, long furrow in the ground. The knight blinked behind his mask. Had a ship landed here? The last time he recalled a scene like this was when Silica had come to Popstar, but surely she wasn't back? No. The ship was quite different in appearance. Meta Knight circled in flight over the downed ship below, catalouging its appearance. It looked like the ship had been made by a child, out of paper, its shape appeared to be made up of identifiable geometric shapes. The body was a rectangular prism, the nose cone was a pyramid, and the wings looked like they had been stolen off of a jet plane and stuck to this ship. It had two large rockets behind it, which still hissed heat from its recent landing. The whole ship was painted magenta, except for its colorless base where one too many crash landings scraped away the paint. On the wing of the ship, Meta Knight could just barely make out a word: _Covet._ He dared not get close, in case any hostile visitors inhabited the ship. Instead, he beat his wings and swerved toward the castle in the village.

Kirby strolled along the forest trail, smiling contently, and letting the warm spring sun heat his skin comfortably. The pink puff wandered about the trees without much reason, leisurely walking among flowerbeds until a movement in the distance caught his eye. He turned toward it with a curious "poyo?" and began following it. The figure did not appear to run, nor hide from the young Star Warrior, but stride toward it. A strange air surrounded it. When the shade of the tree's canopies faded off the approching person, Kirby saw that the newcomer was female, wih long, ebony hair brushing below her shoulders. Two tall, teardrop-shaped ears pricked tall on her head, and a plumy tail followed behind her steps. Her skin was a pale gray, making her hair look even blacker by comparison. She wore some kind of robe that looked too big for her, for the sleeves drooped over her paws. Her crimson eyes narrowed upon seeing Kirby.

Kirby tilted his head, "Poyo?" he asked, when she came close enough. Suddenly, the newcomer's eyes sparkled triumphantly, and a shrill cry that was supposed to sound cheerful emitted from her mouth, "Oh, hi cutie!" she trilled, and ran forward toward him. Kirby tried not to jump at her overly-loud voice, or flinch as she suddenly began petting his head. He wasn't even sure how she'd run so fast toward him without tripping on her oversized cloak. Kirby smiled, "Hi," he said politely, and felt the stranger give him a squeeze,

"You are so adorable, aren't you? Little guy, do you belong to a town?" she asked, her scarlet eyes widening to look friendly. Kirby nodded and pointed through the trees behind him,

"Cappy Town." he said, and the girl walked past him, looking through the trees. Then she turned back to Kirby. She seemed to lower herself to eye-level with the pink puff,

"Little one, I came to your planet in hopes of establishing trade and alliances, but I am so lost here! Can you show me to town, and possibly your leader?" she asked directly, in a sugar-coated voice that somewhat creeped Kirby out. Kirby nodded nonetheless, and began leading the damsel along through the forest, looking back at her occasionally as if her overly-sweetened prescence would summon pixies or something. One time, the girl caught his eye and smiled, almost unnaturally, "I'm Gothara." she said, and Kirby nodded,

"Poyo...Kaabii." replied Kirby in his little voice. He decided to learn a bit more, "Gothara from very far away?"

"Oh yes, far, far, _far_ away! It took me weeks to find Popstar." This girl called Gothara mused gleefully. Suddenly a dark shadow flitted over her. Looking skyward, two jagged wings attatched to a small, round shape cruised through the air far above her. She nudged Kirby, "You got big bats on this planet?" she inquired, genturing up. Kirby looked at her, looked up, and spotted the flying being and shook his head, "No, that's not bat!" he said firmly, as if Gothara had suggested something unimaginable had just flown overhead. Gothara smiled, maintaining a casual tone,

"Oh, no big bats huh. Suppose not, with it being daytime and all...say, what was that anyway?"

Kirby looked at her with the universal "How could you not know?" look, and replied, "That's Meta Knight, my friend." he said. Gothara tried to search for the alleged Kirby friend in the atomosphere but it had long gone,

"Oh, your friend can fly? That's cool. Really cool, I mean. Having wings and all. Can you fly?" she asked the pink puff.

Kirby nodded, "Kinda. No wings, though." he said. Demonstrating, he inhaled air and floated up on a gentle breeze. Gothara appeared impressed,

"Can all of you fly? I mean, the whole town?"

The little puffball expelled his air and landed on both feet gracefully. Kirby shook his head, "Nopoyo. Just me and Meta Knight. Come on, town over there." he said, leading Gothara through the trees and into Cappy Town.

Iri groaned, and tugged feebly at her restraint. Gothara's incompetent landing left her shaky and dizzy, as always. She couldn't help thinking Gothara would always do that on purpose, just to see her sickened reaction. To Gothara, seeing her older sister suffer was like her own brand of heroine. Iri pulled at the ragged edges of her gray, patchwork tunic and sighed mournfully, her visibly gray skin seemed to pale even more. She had once been a pale blonde, but years of mistreatment made her appear in a state of permenent illness, which technically, she was. Iri could sadly imagine Gothara strolling through the nearest town, sugar-coating her words and peppering everyone with her devious charms. She would be taken to their leader, who she would charm as well, until she found some sort of hole, a weak spot in their defenses...she had not found a sutible weakness in previous planets' hierarchy, but it was a matter of time before she would get in and her plan would go into full bloom.

Iri stared at the ship's rear entrance on the floor. Tapping it absently with one foot. The interior of the ship was empty, mostly. The cockpit room took up the whole ship, one big, vacant rectagular room, save for a portrusion in the metal wall midway through the ship, which was the icebox. The front of the ship dipped down into a shallow crater in front of the semi-circle dashboard that was the ship's controls. Two doors were placed either side of the cockpit area, and one on the floor at the back of the room. Iri's chain was attatched firmly to a portruding but strong pipe at the room's rear.

She sighed, and gave the trap door next to her a frightened look. The only way for it to open was for a button on the dashboard to be pressed, thus flinging the door open, sucking everything around it outside. Iri had terrible dreams of Gothara one day growing bored of her existence, and would press the button. Iri would imagine herself getting sucked out, still collared by the neck, getting caught in the ships slipstream that would pull her toward the ship's boosters. The chain would pull at her neck upward, the slipstream pull her body downward...Iri would imagine herself being decapitated brutally, her head ripped from her body, both bits swirling into the slipstream, burning up in the rocket boosters...Gothie cackling insanely...Iri shut out these thoughts, just wishing she could be free, live a life where she didn't feel so sick everyday, where she wasn't always afraid of being dismembered by the trap door, where she wasn't under the rule of Gothara. Iri felt her heart sting in a horrible, morose feeling, and she pressed her paws to her eyes, trying to stem an overflow of tears.

_Hailfire Vulpes: Have I got the insanity effect on right? I'm trying to make Gothara insane, if you haven't figured that out yet, but I want to do it right and not overdue it. I also think Kirby is a bit out of character, but then again he's talking to Gothara so..._

_Anyhoo, I guess to help with the dramatic insanity scenes with Gothie, try imagining that creepy childish music box theme whenever Gothara appears. Hehe._

_Read and review please, polite critism is appreciated._


	3. Chapter 2: Wing Shadows

~Chapter 2~

"_What? _You didn't go inside?"

Meta Knight blinked at the king, whom he adressed now. He had reported his findings of the mysterious shipwreck, and recieved dismay from the penguin king, as usual. He said nothing as Dedede went on, "You're supposed to be protecting the castle, and you just leave an alien ship idle in the woods? What, do you think it belongs to Girl Scouts? I don't need invaders threatening me at this time!" ranted the king, waving his fists through the air to emphasize his outrage. Meta Knight, as usual, did not expect his royal lard-sack to see his logic in not investigating the ship close up. Hiding irritation, he replied,

"Sire, what if there had been hostiles inside? Would it not be smarter if I had directly come back for reinforcements if the newcomers were enemies?" he said. A quiet voice spoke up from near Dedede's throne,

"Sire, he has a point..." Escargon murmured, but earned a whack on the head with the penguin's mallet,

"He's got no point! Of course he goes in the ship, if there are aliens inside, he would deal with them immeadiately." He stared at the knight angrily, "What are you waiting for? Go look into that ship! Need I hire a more competent blueberry puffball to serve me better?" Dedede growled. Meta Knight tried to put a leash on his annoyance, and replied with an icy calm,

"Of course, majesty. I'll leave now." He walked out of the throne room, hearing a replying "hmph" from the king. As soon as he was outside, he whipped out both wings, and beat them in a downstroke. Lifting up, he ascended altitudes, and glided over the town.

He was close enough now, to be seen from below. Gothara saw the glare off his metal mask, the jagged shadow that traveled over her. Her jaw dropped as she catalouged his figure. She hoped no one was staring at her, looking awe-struck upward as if a creature had descended to earth before her. She remembered to walk after Kirby as he led her to Castle Dedede, and finally snapped out of her daze, "So that's...Meta Knight?" she asked steadily.

Kirby nodded, seeing the lingering look of awe on Gothara's face, "Yepoyo." he pointed at Gothara's face, "He has that effect on girls." he said mischieviously, and tugged at Gothara's oversized sleeve for her to follow. Gothara blushed slightly, but shrugged it off. It surprisingly wasn't the knight that had captivated her.

It were the wings. Those...dark, broad...powerful wings.

Hunger sprang up in Gothara, making her mouth dry and a huge, time-bomb-like message welling up in her brain, exploding the neon sign all over her consious: _MUST HAVE MUST HAVE MUST HAVE NOW RIGHT NOW._

She wanted wings...and it didn't have the same strength of wanting like say, a new car. (She had gotten her own spaceship instead.) It was like, she wanted her own mansion, but those wings...it was as if they were made just to stir up that wanting in her, beckoning her, saying, _Come get me Gothie you know you want me..._

Gothara hoped she wasn't drooling.

But, Priority One: get a hand on the throne. Get the king, if nessasary, one foot in a grave and the other on a banana peel. After all, she hadn't seen any tough-looking soliders patrolling the town, so perhaps this could be it...could be...

Priority Two: Get the wings. Not her own pair..._THOSE _wings...

Iri heard movement outside the ship, and she felt a sinking feeling it might be Gothara, bittered from another failure, incoherent murmurings spouting from her mouth, curses spitting to no one in paticular...Gothara was always worse to Iri whenever she failed...she braced herself for a stream of cusses to burst in through the door.

Instead, there was male voice outside. The latch of one of the front doors twisted with a squeak, and opened a bit, before swinging open with a loud _clang_ against the wall. Gothara never thought of doorstops, unfortunately.

A small figure stepped in, perhaps shorted than Iri, blue-skinned and sphereical. The sun glinted off a piece of metal on his face; she realized it was a mask. A flowing cape followed him, and in one of his gloved paws, a golden sword with lethal-looking prongs portruding from the edges of the blade. Iri felt an icy prickle on her skin, hoping that sword was intentioned for self-defense. He appeared cautious as he stepped in, not seeing her right away, his attention was drawn to the dashboard.

He approached the cockpit, examining the controls with interest. Iri tried not to breath, for she was sure it would sound ragged from poor health. She huddled in the corner, trying not to be seen. Hopefully, he wouldn't see her. Hopefully, he'd just scope out the controls and leave...but part of Iri prayed he would see her, perhaps free her? There was something about his air, his demeanor, although threatening no doubt, that gave her that hope. She sighed mournfully, wondering if her wishes and daydreams were overlapping reality.

She sighed...she made noise...Iri felt her body heat up with alarm. The blue puffball whipped around, sword brandishing, "Who's there? Show yourself!" he called. Iri immeadiately felt at ease, even if she wasn't sure why. Maybe she was now too weak to feel alarmed. Too weak to go on feeling anything...she replied, feeling too weak to be afraid,

"I'm over here...my name's...Iri..."

She felt herself melt, she wasn't sure why, but her face suddenly heated up, and it probably wasn't the umbroken fever she's had for several months now. What could it be, then?

Meta Knight fixed his amber eyes on the tattered girl in the corner, debating whether or not she was a threat. However, her obviously weakened appearance, the air of deafeat, she couldn't be in any state to fight. He sheathed his sword, but kept a paw on the hilt cautiously. He approached the girl slowly, catching sight of a metal collar around her throat. _A slave?_ he thought wonderingly. This girl called Iri appeared to try to stand, but shook like a leaf and fell back down, whimpering as though in pain. When he was close enough she saw her eyes: dulled, brimmed with misery and something like hope...she appeared to be mumbling incoherent nonsense, then looked at him with such a sad gaze, it could have generted its own storm. She was murmuring something, that sounded like, "We're all to die...please help me...we may all die..."


	4. Chapter 3: Audience With The King

~Chapter 3~

Dark, bat-like wings bordered the edge of Gothara's mind, still trying to draw her in...so she thought. Kirby led her to the castle that towered over the little village, up the trail while Gothara kept up her act. So many years of acting like a sweet little girl had come like a natural, and her childish appearance helped along as well. She recited her well-rehersed lines through her head while she followed the puny pink puff up an incline toward the huge building ahead. She decided to confirm her growing confidence,

"So...what's your king like?" she asked casually. A furrow appeared in Kirby's brow, almost disapproving,

"Poyo...not nice. Dedede always mean to me...try to beat me up with scary monsters!" Kirby replied, shaking his head. Gothara blinked. _What kind of name is Dedede? _However, Gothara felt her heart sink a bit; mean kings were usually difficult,

"Ah, monsters huh? Like, the ones under your bed?"

Kirby shook his head, "Nopoyo, Nightmare monsters...all gone though. Me beat them all!" he put of a look of brief triumph and pride and looked modest again. Gothara nodded slowly, sizing up Kirby. She had heard of Nightmare Enterprises, and how they had wrought havoc on some planet, but she had never guessed it was Popstar. She still was increadulous about how this tiny pink thing could have fended off such monsters. Perhaps looks weren't everything, thought Gothara sinkingly. Perhaps taking over would be harder than she thought. She kept a relaxed tone and said,

"Oh, you beat them all? Cool, real cool. So...no more monsters? What does the king do now?"

Kirby looked at her with a puzzled look, wondering what all the questions were all about. He replied slowly,

"He sits around. Still doesn't like me. Also, I not beat monsters by myself. Friends help!"

"Oh yes," Gothara replied, growing bored of the converstion, "Friends _are_ important. Say, we almost there?"

"Yepoyo!" Kirby trotted up the hill, followed closely by Gothara, who tried not to trip on her oversized robe. WIthin a few moments, they were through the door and in the hallways. A strange, small creature about the size of Kirby waddled up to them, blinking questioningly. Gothara noticed it had no mouth. Kirby pointed in the general direction of the throne room, "Poyo, Dedede?" he asked. The creature blinked at him and Gothara, and led them through the hall. Gothara noticed these creatures were wandering all around the castle like rats, and she even spotted one with one huge eyeball in the middle of its...face. _Eek,_ thought Gothara. What wierd guards!

They flung the doors open and in stepped Gothara and her pink guide. Gothara's eyes narrowed in critical dismay as she took in the sight before her. A large blue bird...perhaps a penguin? was sitting in a chair across the room, tearing into a drumstick. Beside him was some kind of enlarged bug with a goatee. _This looks promising..._Gothara thought. The penguin, probably the king, looked up from his ravenous eating and glared daggers at his pink visitor, "What are you doing here, you pink vermin?" he asked harshly, waving a wing at him, "You know I don't like pink pests stomping up and down my castle! Why did you bring him here?" he adressed the creature who led them here. It seemed to shrug and shuffled out of the room. Gothara cleared her throat, to bring attention to her prescence. The king shifted his gaze to her, still glaring, "Who's this?" Gothara put on her politest smile, which seemed to have a demented edge to it, and nodded respectfully,

"Greetings, your majesty I'm..."

"What are you still doing here?" Dedede was looking at Kirby. Gothara winced and waved at Kirby,

"I'll be fine now." she said, and the pink puff gave her a bemused look, before shuffling out. Gothara now got Dedede's full attention, she continued,

"I'm Gothara, from..." she had a fake planet name for this moment, "Greenstar. I'm here to..."

"You got any Samoas?" the king interrupted suddenly. Gothara blinked,

"What, sir?"

"Got any Samoas?" Dedede repeated, "Or Thin Mints? How much?" Dedede assumed this was the 'invader.' He recalled how he had sarcastically called them a Girl Scout. Judging by this girl's appearance, she certainly looked like the type to be flying around the galaxy with a wagonfull of cookies. So unfortunate for the king...Girl Scout was a _MAJOR_ understatement.

"No. I am not here to sell...Samoas or Thin Mints." Whatever those were, thought Gothara. Girl Scouts had never come by her house. Wonder why? "I'm here to establish trade and alliance between Greenstar and Popstar. My people think it is best for both our planets that we unite in case of any sort of..." she cut off; the king started yawning as though bored. She narrowed her eyes, "Ahem." she said icily, tapping a foot loudly on the ground. Dedede glanced at her,

"Sorry kid. I'd say I'm all ears to your Girl Scout trade and unity or whatever, but I'm an honest king...so can you go on back to your ship if you're not here to sell anything?" he yawned, much to Gothara's irritation. She hardened her gaze to a metallic scarlet glare, and one of her paws reached into the folds of her robe. _Okay, I'm done with politeness._ She thought acidly, and drew out what appeared to be a pistol. She decided quickly as she set the pistol: the army seemed next to mediocre, the village people weaklings, the king a fat couch potatoe. This was her chance. Dedede's eyes widened and the large bug next to him recoiled fearfully, crying,

"Majesty, the Girl Scout's threatening you..." murmured Escargon, but got no response.

Dedede pointed at the pistol, "What are you planning to do..." Gothara smirked deviously, and tilted the gun, her finger on the trigger. She pulled without a word, cutting off a rising cry for help from the king. The pistol made an unearthly banging-tinkling sound, and it let off a blue smoke...at once the room grew very, very cold.

"_Sic semper tyrannis_," muttered Gothara.

"What do you mean?"

Meta Knight confronted the slave girl, who ceased her mumbling, and now stared at the knight's amber eyes. Iri shivered, and nodded feebly, "My...she's going to..." with a jolt, something occured to Iri, and her eyes widened with alarm, "Get out! You have to get out of the ship now!" she cried, feeling her precious sparce energy drain from her urgency. The blue puffball took a step back, and looked around, as if he expected another figure or trap to come at him.

"What do you mean?" he repeated, his grip on Galaxia's hilt tightening instinctively. Iri winced, and felt something hot rising in her throat,

"This ship can lock you in until..." She paused, feeling a bit light-headed from this frantic exertion of energy she had not been used to for a long time, "Just go!" She pointed at the entrance doors with a shaky paw. As much as she wanted to be free...she didn't want this stranger to be trapped inside the ship until Gothara returned, where she may most likely enslave him as well.

Meta Knight found the urgent tone in this girl's voice, and headed for the door, wings out to boost his speed. He swooped out the door, just in time for it to suddenly swing shut with a horribly resounding _bang! _Lights around the door lit up in a pale red light, and a trill of an alarm went up for a few seconds before dying out. Meta Knight was already long gone in the skies by then.


	5. Chapter 4: Two Birds With One Pistol

~Chapter 4~

Gothara's feet shuffled over the dirt path, triumph sparking in her crazed, crimson eyes. She had succeeded in the first phase of her world dominion plan. The fowl king was out of the picture, as well as his snail-like attendant. Gothara twirled the culprit-her pistol-on one finger before depositing it in her robe. The firing-end of the pistol still felt cold from its recent use, a bit of ice still rimming the edges, for Gothie's pistol did not fire bullets this time, but ice, freezing Dedede and Escargon to the spot. It took only a few seconds for Gothara to hide the twosome in the dungeons, freezing any witnesses along the way such as the mouthless creatures-they were apparently called Waddle Dees-the one-eyed creature, and there had been a small boy wandering around the halls. Well, now there was a nice display of ice sculptures in the dungeons of Castle Dedede.

Now Gothara advanced to her ship, ready to fly it over to the castle to claim it as her own. She reminded herself to use a reinforced chain on Iri, for her old one was becoming rusty with age. She hadn't come across Kirby so far, surprisingly. The pink half-pint was, she had to admit, quite cute, but how useful would he be when her reign officially started? She supposed if she stayed on Kirby's good side, convinced him she would make a better monarch for the village...perhaps he'd join her side? Yes, after all, someone who had taken down Nightmare Enterprises monsters had to be physically useful in some way...Gothara thought all this when a dark shadow swam over her for the third time that day. Her paw shot into her robe, gripping a handle...

Meta Knight's wings worked against a sudden headwind, feeling dread suddenly. That girl, Iri, had said they would all die...but who would be responsible? Perhaps Iri was the slave of another being who bore evil intentions, bent on possibly world domination or genecide...he needed to finde Kirby, for he remebered his apprentice traveling with an unfamiliar being through the woods. He needed to make sure he wasn't trying to make friends with someone who could possibly be the destroyer of Popstar. Just then he saw them, or it, walking below him toward the direction of the felled ship. She was looking directly at him...

Gothara raised her pistol, changing its gears to a new firepower as she aimed it at the flying speck in the sky. Just something to knock him from the sky...not damage those beloved wings she would soon aquire...

Meta Knight's paw reached for Galaxia instinctively, prepared to attack as he saw the figure on the groud raise something toward him...

Gothara's finger tightened on the trigger as Meta Knight's flying form lined up with her line of fire...

A resounding buzz ripped the atmosphere, turning into an electrical roar, as a white river of a lightning bolt zigzagged upwards, tearing the air apart as it ascended toward Gothara's prize...

Meta Knight had no time to react before the speeding bolt snared him, sending convulsive waves of hot electricity through his body painfully, stunning him senseless and numbing his wings. He dropped like a stone, but caught himself before hitting the ground. He swerved above the ground, and landed on both feet, manifesting his wings back into a cape. He lashed out Galaxia, and the blade formed in a storm of sparks. He stood his ground before the threatening damsel before him, not able to bring himself to fight quite yet. She was small, but still a head taller than him, looking about Bun's age, if not younger. Her garments looked a size too large, and her eyes wide and innocent, yet they gleamed with something...else...

She was a child, and Meta Knight felt the resisit to strike her. Gothara looked at him innocently, but a strange light flickered deep in her slightly glazed red eyes. She smiled, but it fit her face strangely, "You are Meta Knight?" she asked in a small, melodious voice. Meta Knight narrowed his eyes suspiciously behind his mask,

"Yes, you are the newcomer?" he asked, and Gothara nodded politely,

"Yes, I'm Gothara from Greenstar." she said, but didn't look him in the eye. Meta Knight's eyes began tinting red with instinctual hostility,

"But, I have never heard of a planet called Greenstar. I know the universe, I have traveled it...I do not believe there is a Greenstar." he said slowly, but Gothara fixed him in an unnerving stare, the strange light getting brighter, more obvious in her eyes,

"I know." she said, raising her pistol again. She pulled the trigger fast, and sent another agonizing shock through the knight. Meta Knight, feeling dizzy from the electrocutions, fell, and Gothara stepped close to him, a heinous air around her,

"No one proved me wrong. The only thing that matters here is that I will soon have lots of power. I have removed current obstacles, and now my path is clear for me...the throne..." she murmured, as if dazed. Meta Knight stared at her. She certainly looked too young to understand the statement she was making, much less understand life. And what did she mean she had removed all current obstacles? Had she done something to the king, or Kirby?

"What...you cannot..." Meta Knight began, and realized Gothara was changing gears on her pistol again. He got shakily to his feet, and brandished his sword at her, trying to intimidate her. But she barely flinched as she simply backed away, she parried one of his sword strikes with her gun, and pointed it at him threateningly, as if she would fire. Meta Knight froze. Gothara continued,

"Mommy always said I was her little angel, and I could have anything I wanted. I asked for the throne, but she said no. I asked again and again, and still no...I begged, cried, demanded, threatened...still no..." she murmured, half to herself, "Mommy then favored Iri over me...I couldn't let Mommy get away with her deed, she rejected me for Iri...said I was crazy...Mommy needed to be taught a lesson, she needed to be punished, so I killed her..." Meta Knight's eyes widened in horror as she went on, "I stabbed Mommy with a kitchen knife when she was sleeping. She bled a lot, and I didn't want Iri to see, so I chained her and locked her in my ship...then I decided I could get a throne myself...I found Popstar and..." she set her gaze on Meta Knight, "...you..."

"You...murdered your own mother?" Meta Knight asked in horror in disbelief. His paw tighted on Galaxia's hilt, "Just because she wouldn't let you take over a planet? I've heard of some badly spoiled kids but..." Gothara interrupted, a deadly calm in her voice while wild lights danced in her irises like crazed concert lights,

"I need you to come with me. I want wings too, now that I have the throne in my grasp. I want _your_ wings...Daddy is a busy man who works in a science place where they do impossible things to creatures...he can take your wings and put them on me, and you can get something you always wanted..." Meta Knight raised his sword threatingly, daring the girl to come closer. He was so outraged, he didn't see a young girl anymore, he saw a psycotic demonic creature in a little girl's clothing,

"I refuse. You cannot make me come, although you appear to be used to others telling you 'yes.'"

Gothara did not move, "You can either come and be rewarded for your sacrifice, or have your wings stolen. You could also endanger loved ones if you do not cooperate." she said with an icy neutrality. Meta Knight did not move either, but his eyes faded from amber to a dangerous dark red. Gothara blinked, almost in pity, and shook her head, "Sorry to hear that." she murmured, and she pulled the trigger. Instead of lightning or ice, blue sparks fizzed on the gun's firing-end, and Gothara lunged forward.

She jabbed the knight suddenly with the sparking gun, and he shivered as though being electrocuted again. Gothara pulled harder on the gun's trigger, amplifying its power until the amber lights of his eyes dimmed out. Only when she was sure he had lost consciousness, she pulled away and holstered her weapon. She grabbed the uncoscious puffball knight and dragged him through the forest, toward her ship.

Did she remember to stock up on extra chains? Probably.


	6. Chapter 5: Backstory of Horror

~Chapter 5~

**WARNING**

_Hailfire Vulpes: Okay, this is probably the most graphic chapter, hence the __**T **__rating. It contains __**high levels of insanity-induced destruction**__, and __**blood**__. And, there is some Meta KnightXO.C to look forward to._

Meta Knight's gaze slowly formed the scene before him, hazy at first, but sharpening with each passing second. A metal roof was the first sight he saw, dimmed and cold. He took a second to cataloug his surroundings, find out where he was and why. Sounds melted into the air. He heard whirring, and as he sat up, the sound of metal clanking against metal. He turned his head sharply and shifted an arm, realizing something was clasped on his wrist. He stole a glance at his arms, tethered to the wall by chains, alarm and anger rising inside. Whoever was responsible for this would pay. Around Meta Knight was a vacant room, familiar and yet...

Iri blinked sadly at the knight tethered to the wall next to her, waking up with the same feeling she had so many years ago...confused, angry, betrayed...she touched her metal collar as if sympathizing, and prepared herself to speak to him, when suddenly his gaze whipped on her, golden eyes hardening to a deadly glare, "Why am I here? What have you done?" he demanded, and Iri felt herself grow that frightened, weakened feeling again. Before she could reply, a sharp call came from the front of the room,

"Quiet! You had your chance."

Gothara.

The blue knight recognized the ship's interior, and studied the chain that kept him tethered to the wall next to the slave-girl. It appeared as if Gothara had chained them both with the same link of chain, the metal was bound around the pipe that lifted from the wall before it branched off to both victims. Instinctively, he reached for Galaxia's hilt, prepared to cut the link.

But Galaxia was not there. Meta Knight looked around the room, in case it had been stripped from his posession while he had been unconsciouss, and was stashed somewhere on board. Iri seemed to sense what he would say, so she spoke, "Your sword is not here." she said calmly, softly, and the knight turned his furious gaze on her,

"Not here? What do you mean?" he demanded, eyes fading to red. Iri sighed, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news,

"Your sword is not here. Gothara did not bring it with her." she whispered. Meta Knight remembered his previous defeat in the woods, felled by that strange weapon that this Gothara person wielded. He must have dropped it when he had been...had she tazed him? It must still be in the woods. Instantly, Meta Knight felt helpless without Galaxia, and wondered if there was a chance he could escape to get it back. He sighed,

"Where am I?" he asked Iri, whose eyes shadowed with saddness,

"You're in Gothara's ship. She's taking us to an asteroid belt where her Daddy works on a large asteroid. He runs a genetic science facility that specializes in illegal DNA combining and mutations..." she murmured, "Daddy is on Gothara's side, always was...If he wasn't always away and busy, he'd get Gothie whatever she wanted...if it involved his field of work. She wants your wings, you know..."

Meta Knight glared at the young ship driver and back at the grayed girl, "I will not allow it." he said firmly, "I will not be defeated by a spoiled, insane little girl. She...I just wish I had't resisted...I could have..." he sighed in frustration, wishing he hadn't judged the girl on her appearance. He could have, should have killed her. She was a murderer after all.

Iri looked at him, "She's my little sister." she whispered, "She was...a great little sister before she..." Her eyes dulled, and she stared at the ground, at the emergency door in front of her. Her eyes lifted and met with the knight's golden gaze. Pink blossomed on her face, but faded almost immeadiately. Meta Knight stared back at her, silent for a few seconds, and said slowly,

"Tell me who Gothara is. Why is she this way?" he asked quietly, wary now that Gothara could be listening. Iri's gaze dropped again, and traced a circle in the dust on the ground. She replied, very quietly,

"Her...our story...? Well, it was..." she sighed, willing herself to endure the rush of sickly, morose memories that would stream through her mind's eye all over again. She nodded, braced, and said, "Gothara and I were as close as two sisters could get. Never a day passed when either one of us fought, quarreled, or argued...Mommy and our first Daddy loved us both so much..."

_*****Flashback*****_

"Mommy! Can I have s'more ice cream?" Little Gothie asked, her scarlet eyes wide and pleading. A taller, older person that looked like Iri, the mother, smiled a warm smile and patted the black-haired girl on her head,

"Of course, my little angel, you may."

Young Iri trotted up, and pulled the big-eyed younger sister close to her, "You silly!" she said playfully, "That was your third helping, why not save some for tommorrow?" The little Gothara blinked at young Iri, and shook her head,

"Today!" Young Iri showed no concern for her little sister's persistence, and continued to hug her close.

Days like this passed all the time, showered with happiness and sisterly love, motherly love...little Gothie was quite the persuation, with her unbearable presciousness and sweet sounding voice. Her love for her mother and sister never faultered, nor theirs her.

"Mommy, will you always love me? Even when I get big?" Gothara would ask. The reply was always the same:

"Undoubtfully, my little angel. You remain a part of my whole, my heart and soul, and nothing about that would change...no matter what. I would get the world for you..."

Iri would get a similar response, but somehow the words she would speak to Gothara sounded more whole, more sincere. Nonetheless, Iri never thought of her mother as the type who picked favorites. She loved her dearly still, offered her the whole world as well, although she never asked for anything except her mother's unwavering love.

"Mommy, I finished my Christmas wishlist!" Iri once said.

"Oh, now what are you asking for this Christmas? Gothara's getting a spaceship..."

"I just want you to always love me, no matter what."

Gothara and Iri were pampered sisters, living in the lap of luxury...however, things went downhill for the family when their first Daddy did not come back from his job...

"Mommy, when's Daddy coming home?" Iri had asked,

"Is he...okay?" Came a tearful Gothara,

"Perhaps...he's a very smart Daddy.."

Days trickled by...and finally he was assumed to be dead. Gothie, Iri, and their mother were devastated. Gothara nursed her grief by expanding her wishlist...

"Can I have a super-gun, Mommy? Daddy said I may need one to protect myself when I'm older..."

"Yes, if your Daddy thought it was best..."

"Can I also have a new dress? Daddy said I would look like a princess in it." Gothara had showed her Mommy a magazine.

"Yes, I think you will look beautiful in it too."

The subject of princesses whirled in the little Gothara's brain, fueling a passionate feeling of want...coveting, coveting something...a castle, a throne, servants, crowns, riches, and monarchy...

"Mommy, I want to be a queen, a queen of a planet! A big planet!" Gothara had presented her mother with this sudden question.

Mommy gave her a warm, though not believing smile, "You are a queen, to me and Iri. A most beautiful, graceful, kind litte..."

"No," interrupted the little Gothara firmly, "I want to be a _real_ queen. _Real_."

Mommy frowned now, looking troubled, "But you have so many wonderful things that a queen would wish she could have. You can always pretend with your sister Iri." she said diplomatically, but Gothara didn't see the reason in it,

"But...but, I don't want to pretend. I want a castle, and a throne, and servants, and a jeweled tiara and..."

Mommy shook her head slowly but firmly. The young Gothie felt her heart plummet, "Sweet Gothie, some things Mommy can't get. There are planets already owned by queens..." Gothara felt her skin grow icy, a cold sweat on her forhead. What was Mommy trying to say? Mommy continued, "I'm sorry Gothie, no. Now go play, I promise I'll make your favorite tonight. You can even go to Disneyland if you want..."

_No? No! What was no? What was her mom trying to say? No? But she wanted it! Her mom would NEVER say no! What was happening?_

Gothara's coveting feeling grew, her cheeks reddened, her eyes teared up. Her wanting turned to fury in an instant,

"But...I...I want it...You said you'd get the world for me! I want to be a queen!" cried Gothara. Mommy gave her a startled look, but still denied her request,

"No Gothara. Go play now." Mommy said firmly. Gothara felt that wanting, that passion heating up, her desire and lust growing. She fanned her fury to fever pitch, wanting her mother to know what she was doing to herself by saying no,

"I...I...I WANT IT!" Gothara lunged at Mommy, pushing her backwards. Iri had turned the corner to see and hear Gothara's rampage. She stifled a shriek of terror. Mommy had hit her head on the linoleum floor...hard...a trickle of blood was forming behind her head.

Gothara was running about the house, her screams and roars shrill and haunting. She ran to the kitchen, grabbed dishes from the cupboard and dashed them to the floor. Feverish thoughts kept zipping like wild insects through her sane-lacking mind. _Mommy said Mommy said Mommy said she loved you but she said no she lied to you said she would get you anything lied Mommy lied to you Mommy lied to you..._

Gothie had her paws on the display shelves in the den, and yanked them from the walls, letting the delicates shatter on the floor. The shelves themselves were flung into a window, breaking it. _Mommys little angel you are her little angel but she lied to you lied to you._

Gothara grabbed at the unbroken windows with her paws, bashing fists into them, smashing her head into them until they broke, stained in blood. _No no no no queen no queen no go play lied to you doesnt love you._

Toy stuffing was scattered everywhere, disemboweled stuffed animals laid with their cotton inerds strewn across the floor. TVs had their screens punched out. Pictures were ripped from the walls and broken to pieces on the floor. _Lied lied lied must be punished must be punished must be taught a lesson._

Gothara dug her claws into the walls, dragging her hands down the walls, leaving deep furrows. After a few claw marks in the walls, blood spread along with her claws, lining them, trailing her torn paws. _Lied lied to you must be punished she will not do this again not again._

Gothara stared at her destruction, and tunnel-vision assumed her eyes. She felt the blackness swallow her, swallow her last shriveled sanity...Blessed blackness, blessed, dearest, most blissful darkness..._punishment punishment rest now revenge later rest now revenge later later soon revenge on Mommy liar...rest now...revenge..._

_*****End Flashback*****_

Meta Knight stared at Iri, his horror-struck expression shielded by his mask. Iri sighed, her brow wrinkled, "Then...after she fainted, Mommy got up and took her to bed...she kept mumbling to herself that she made a mistake, a horrible, lethal mistake. Then she looked at me, kneeled down, put both hands on my face and said, 'Thank goodness I didn't corrupt you...thank goodness...' I was so stunned..."

Iri paused, and a curious sound came from her throat. Her chest heaved as if she had coughed. Meta Knight thought he saw a speck of blood on her lower lip. Iri shook her head, looking as if there was more to tell, "Mommy took me close...she..."

_*****Flashback*****_

Mommy held a young, horror-stricken Iri to her bosom tightly, as if a gale from Gothara's crazed fury would sweep them apart, Iri looked at Mommy with tears of worry in her eyes,

"Mommy...what's wrong with my little sis?" Iri asked softly. Mommy breathed hard, Iri could feel her chest heaving with sob-laden breaths as she replied,

"Gothie is...ill..." she said carefully, and her face buried itself in Iri's pale blonde hair. Her mother's paw touched one of her tear-shaped ears, and Mommy's head lifted a bit so her lips spoke into those beautiful rounded ears, "Gothie is...dangerous...beware, Iri. Whatever happens...never lose sight of hope..."

Gothara regained consciousness hours into the night, and immediatley her diseased mind roiled with plans. Yes, she had BIG plans. Quietly, she crept into the kitchen, taking the hilt of a butcher knife in one of the drawers. She tightened her grip on it, refusing to wince from the cuts and gouges in her reddened paws. She stared at her reflection on the blade for a second before proceeding slowly down the hallway. Feet silent on the hardwood floor, she stepped into Mommy's room. Mommy was wearing her green floral nightgown, the one she always wore during the summertime. Her sheets and blankets were tucked up right under her chin, both arms were laid carefully over her body. Gothara stared at her Mommy.

Mommy looked so peaceful, so at ease...Gothara looked at the knife, at Mommy's face...and unwanted tears came to her eyes. _No cry no cry she doesnt love no love she said no she must be punished must be punished bad Mommy bad bad said no no cry..._

Mommy didn't keep her promise...she wouldn't give Gothara her one desire like she'd always said she would. Gothara knew breaking a promise like that to your child was serious. Gothara needed Mommy to get her message...even if she would never know if she did. Sighing, Gothara raised the knife, blade pointing at the sheets...her fingers fondled on the hilt, and she felt her wounds rub painfully on the wooden handle. _No mercy no mercy punish must be punished Mommy bad no promise Mommy lied..._

The knife came down.

There was a small cracking-punturing sound as the blade went in deep.

The sheets blossomed red. Stained in Mommy's blood.

The green nightgown, reddend. Stained in Mommy's blood.

Mommy...stained in Mommy's blood.

Iri didn't deserve to see this. Leaving the knife in, Gothara fled, returning with a heavy collar of metal, attached by a link of chain. Without preamble, she grabbed her sleeping sister and dragged her from her bed, fastening the collar on, ignoring the panicked cries and shouts that spilled from Iri's mouth. She gripped the chain, yanking it, and Iri fell. Gothara smirked, pleased...Iri's pretty hazel eyes were teary and foggy from sleep,

"Gothara, what are you doing? Mommy! Mommy_ HELP_!"

"Mommy's dead." Gothara growled, and dragged her screaming, hysterical sister to her spaceship, loading her on like luggage, fastening her chain to the wall in the back. Iri was shrieking madly, kicking the walls and pulling her chain uselessly. She screeched bloody murder, but Gothara treated it like a bothersome fly. She let the whirring of her ship drown out her sister, the sound of air, space rushing by fill her ears...

Gothara had big plans all right...

_*****End Flashback*****_

"...Then, she met her Daddy on a planet she tried to take over. He was a traitor to that planet's king, and moved to an asteroid to practice his evil sciences...Gothara paid him royally in return for his services..." Iri finished. Her eyes shadowed, her face seemed even grayer, her cheeks even redder. Meta Knight saw the glisten of tears in her eyes. Iri took a shuddering breath and continued,

"Sometimes I sleep on this floor at night...and I dream about life as it was before...and sometimes I forget which is the dream and what is reality...I wish my dreams were real again...and sometimes I wish I never wake up, and that I could just die...be with Mommy again..where ever she is..." murmured Iri. Her voice cracked on a sob, and she slumped sideways. Instead of hitting the wall, she found herself leaning on Meta Knight. Her face flushed, and she lifted herself up, trying not to look at the knight.

Meta Knight blinked, and almost unconsciously took Iri's paw in his own. She turned her head, and his eyes stared into hers...for a moment, they seemed to forget their situation, and simply floated in a void of nothing but each other...

Suddenly Iri's body convulsed violently. A horrible, gagging-coughing sound erupted from her throat, and she grabbed at her chest as if her heart was imploding. Blood bubbled from her lips, spattering all over her cheeks and chin. Tears streamed down her face. Meta Knight stared at her in horror. Iri's condition was worsening, and her time dwindiling right in front of him... Iri slid to the floor, the red liquid spilling out her mouth and splashing her chest and hands. She coughed, gagged, convulsed, twitched, cried, moaned...it was terrible to look at, and Meta Knight could scarcely go on looking...yet he coud not look away.

As suddenly as it started, it subsided...Iri lay limp but alive on the floor, shaking too hard to move. After a few minutes, she pushed herself up, laying against the wall. She stared at nothing, too shocked and traumatized to move. Meta Knight stared at her a moment longer, and gently took her paw again. He pulled her gently toward him, and she slid across the wall until she was leaing on Meta Knight again...

_Hailfire Vulpes: Now I need ideas for upcoming chapters. If you have any ideas or suggestions, I would be very pleased to hear it. Thanks._


	7. Chapter 6: Chilling Discoveries

~Chapter 6~

Whatever urged him to do so, he wasn't quite sure.

Kirby stolled liesurely through the forest, but one could hardly call it leisurely when you were filled with foreboding. Unsure, Kirby had instictively found himself in the woods, somehow retracing his steps toward the place where Gothara's ship had crashed. That girl seemed nice, Kirby had decided, but he hadn't heard from her since she dismissed him from the king's throne room. She wondered if she'd been rejected, and was possibly leaving. Kirby wanted to say goodbye, if she was, merely because it was polite. Even if Gothara leaned a bit on the fantasy side of life.

Shrugging off his lingering doubts, the pink puff strafed through the undergrowth, listening for the sounds of an spaceship's engine whirring to life, or the sight of the craft rising into the sky, even if Kirby had no idea what her ship looked like, or if she even possessed one, he was sure she had come by spacecraft. Why? He wasn't sure.

Kirby thought he saw something shiny, and immeadiatly tipped his head back to look at the sky, which revealed nothing to his blue eyes. Again, a glare of light seared the corner of his vision. Kirby turned, and saw something sparkling in the bushes, giving off a glaring light by the late-afternoon sun. The Star Warrior trotted over, and gasped as he seperated the bush branches.

Galaxia! The sacred golden sword was lying underneath the shrub, the leaves of it reflecting on its polished blade surface. Kirby blinked disbelivingly, and reached for the hilt. He lifted it from the shrub, before having the blade point drop into the ground, too heavy for Kirby to carry. Kirby stared at it, wondering why Meta Knight left his sword here. Blinking, he realized the blue knight wouldn't do something so foolish as that, and a wave of anxiety washed over his conscious. Something had to be wrong if Meta Knight lost Galaxia. He wouldn't lose it accidentally, it took less than common sense to know that, Kirby began to wonder if something happened to Meta Knight that would cause him to lose the sword.

Kirby looked around, not feeling the prescence of other people around him. The air felt eerily stilled. Meta Knight had not been here recently. Kirby got the awful gut feeling that Meta Knight was in trouble, but where, by whom, his questions were unanswered. Instead, he found himself at a likely, though not popular theory. Holding the heavy sword awkwardly, Kirby set a rigorous pace through the woods, following broken, charred trees.

Kirby gasped. A long, huge gully was carved through the earth like a hideous scar. It ended at a mound of burnt, broken wood that once had been trees, and debri was littered all around. The pink puff realized that this must have been where Gothara crashed, and now she was gone. It may have just been an instinct in his young, developing mind, but somehow he felt the mysterious newcomer, whose words dripped with acidic honey, had something to do with his mentor's disappearance.

Kirby turned slightly when he heard his name being called in the distance. He ran toward its source, trying not to let Galaxia drag in the dust behind him. As he rounded this tree and the next, he nearly collided with Fumu, who was panting as if she had been sprinting through the woods frantically. By the look of her facial expression, she looked panicked. "Poyo?" Kirby asked, growing alarm in his core. Fumu paused to regain her poise, and a broken, gaspy story met Kirby's nonexistent ears,

"Kirby...I can't find Bun anywhere...or the King...the castle's cold too...hah, hah..." she gasped, and Kirby blinked, suspoicious. When Fumu caught her breath, she explained, "Bun, Dedede, and Escargon are missing. There are several Waddle Dee's missing too." Fumu said, worredly. Kirby nodded at her urgent tone, and togther they dashed through the woods.

Upon stepping inside the castle, Kirby felt a chill. The castle _did_ feel colder, like the time ghosts had been loose inside. Except he didn't get the sense that something _unnatural_ was here. As he and Fumu traveled the halls, he did notice a decrease in the number of Waddle Dee's roaming the corridors. Despite the fact there seemed to be hundreds of them, the twosome could somehow tell the difference. Also, that Waddle Doo appeared to be gone as well. They made for the throne room, and Kirby noticed the door was slightly ajar. He felt a coldness grip him, and he pushed open the door.

Fumu gasped, and Kirby's eyes went wide. The whole room was like a giant icebox, complete with hanging icicles, frostbitten walls, and icey floors and upholstrey. The ice appeared thickest around the throne itself, and Kirby took the time to walk right up to it and touch the ice tentatively, as if the chilly substance would morph before his eyes. Fumu blinked, and finally said, "This can't..." she murmured, and Kirby walked back to her,

"Not monster." He reflected, and Fumu nodded in agreement,

"No, I don't think it was a demon beast, the castle's the only place affected, and I haven't seen anything wrong with the town." Fumu mused. Kirby nodded slowly, and made his way out of the room, tailed by his female companion.

They traversed the chily hallways, seeing occasionally a sheet of ice on the wall of floor, making Kirby spookily think of blood puddles of a murderous rampage. With the images of murder in Kirby's mind, he thought of the icy throne room, and winced, assuming it the main target in this crime. They followed the ice splotches, and Kirby noticed that each one took them deeper and deeper into the deserted parts of the castle...

The dungeons loomed darkly below, and Kirby felt that foreboding again. It was colder down here than in the throne room, and the pink puff willed up his courage, bracing himself for whatever awaited his detection below...suddenly Fumu shrieked, and ran past him toward a cell. Kirby followed, succeeding in tripping head-over-heels down the flight of stairs. Fumu was staring in horror through the bars of a cell. Kirby felt a draft, and cautiously followed Fumu. When the sight met his eyes, he loosed a startled, "Poyo!"

There were dozens of ice sculptures in the locked cell, each one had its face warped in a frozen expression of terror, surprise, and sometimes blankness. Kirby's eyes catalouged their character, and felt himself sink inside.

There was a large, icy bird, its face stuck in a scream. Beside it a snail stuck in mid-flinch.

Several ice-sheathed Waddle Dees stared ahead blankly, some with a face of surprise on. The Waddle Doo's eye was stretched wide with fear.

Then there was Bun, completely frozen over, his hands fixed in place where they shielded his face from some unknown assault. Fumu screamed again, and fell into weeping. Kirby stared, realized grimly that no one could do this without a demon beast's power.

Or a weapon from another planet.


	8. Chapter 7: Solution of Secrecy

~Chapter 7~

Kirby's expression darkened as Fumu began pounding on the cell bars, tears streaming from her eyes. Finally, Kirby looked from Galaxia which he held in hand, and the cell's bars. He ran at it, swinging the heavy sword awkwardly. The golden blade struck the iron bars and sheared through them easily, leaving a large, jagged gap in the cell. Fumu wasted no time in running in and dragging her frozen brother out,

"No, Bun, no...not you..." she whimpered, touching the icy boy gently as if he could shatter by the slightest contact.

And yet, he could, Kirby wondered. Everyone frozen appeared completely iced over, like they were dipped in frost chrome, it certainly looked like they had simply turned into ice, rather than be frozen. Yet, who could know for sure? Kirby wasn't too keen on sacrificing one of these iced creatures to prove right or wrong his theory, but he had to know if the real person was still inside the ice.

The pink puff, oblivious to his mourning companion, advanced toward a motionless Waddle Dee, and gripped it in his stubby paws. The ice seared his skin, but Kirby did not faulter as he reluctantly hoisted the little creature over his head. Surprisingly, and somewhat unbelievably, the frozen-over Waddle Dee weighed barely more than he did; it felt like Kirby was holding cold styrophome(sp?). Kirby held it for a second, bracing himself, and threw it into the ground.

Kirby expected it to either shatter completely, killing the Waddle Dee, or for it to shatter and for the mouthless creature to pop out from the shards. It did neither, however, and lay on its side, not even chipped. The ice must be strong, Kirby reflected. He picked it up again, swung the strangely lightweight ice sculpture into the wall, where it hit the stone with a echoeing _thunk! _and fell to the floor, still undamaged.

Kirby looked at Fumu, who was still fretting over frozen Bun, and then went for Galaxia which he had laid on the floor while he had assaulted the ice 'Dee. Kirby was out of options here. True, he did not have much physical strength in his normal form, and not doubt his efforts of trying to shatter the Waddle Dee against the stone floors would have been inferior anyway, but now he would have to use riskier, stronger, hopefully promising tactics. He raised Galaxia, and aimed it at the frozen target.

He brought the sacred sword onto the head of the creature, hoping he wouldn't shatter the little thing to pieces. The sword split the icy head a bit, and Kirby paused before ripping it out. Cracks branched out from the main furrow Kirby had created. Kirby withdrew Galaxia, and hefty shards of ice shed off the ice 'Dee. There was a loud, resounding splitting sound and a burst of blue fog as the ice cracked apart. In the midst of the broken ice, stood a Waddle Dee, looking dazed but alive. It blinked its eyes hazily, then blankly, and rushed out of the room.

_Good...still alive._ Kirby thought with relief. He could save them. Going down the line in the cell, Kirby freed each ice-encased prisoner from his frozen state, and each woke dazed, then alert. Finally when the last of them were freed, they faced the pink puff ball.

The Waddle Dee's had fled up the stairs immeadiately, as if afflicted by some unknown panic, leaving the room with just the king and Escargon in the cell with Kirby. Kirby paid them a second of attention until turning to Bun, whom he'd yet to free.

Fumu stepped back, unnerved as Kirby approached her brother, brandishing Galaxia. Dedede stared at him wide-eyed, "What's he going to do?" he asked, but the question faded unanswered. The sword struck ice-Bun, and the frozen shell spilt away from the boy cringing inside. Fumu ran to him immeadiately, hugging him close while he tried to struggle away from her,

"Wha- What's going on?" he muttered, pulling away from Fumu. Fumu responded before Kirby could answer,

"You were frozen. Are you okay?" she asked, concerned. Bun frowned at her,

"Who was that girl?" he said suddenly, recalling the last thing he'd seen before he was frozen. Kirby stiffened, his thoughts straying to Gothara's image,

"What girl?" Kirby prompted, facing Bun with a look of uncharacteristic seriousness on his pink face. His friend frowned again, trying to remember,

"She was, like, little." he said slowly, "She had some wierd ears, and clothes too big for her..." he looked from Fumu to Kirby, "She was pushing some...ice? She was pushing ice toward the dungeons. I called out to her, and she took out a gun and..." he broke off, stiffening in fear, "Did she shoot me, or something?" he asked fearfully. Before anyone replied, Dedede broke in,

"I know that girl! She was in the throne room earlier." he said.

"She was pretty rude." Escargon added, and Dedede glared at him. Kirby had never seen Gothara carrying a gun with her, but the decribed characteristics were unmistakable. Kirby felt a sinking betrayal, thinking she had been so nice when she first arrived, only for her to turn around and attack everyone. Kirby shook his head, now wondering why Gothara would do such a thing. By the looks of it, and based off of Bun's claims, she sounded as if she was hiding her first victims: the king and Escargon, and had incapicitated any witnesses along the why. But Kirby still wondered why she would need to freeze anyone in the first place.

Everyone receded into the courtyard, including Dedede and Escargon, and Kirby explained his misgivings in his broken, baby English as best he could. When he finished, Fumu looked thoughtful, "So you met this person, Kirby? And I agree: why say she was here to set up trade and then attack the king?" she mused. Everyone shook their heads, and Dedede looked furious,

"To think I wanted _her_ Girl Scout cookies! The nerve of that little beast, freezing me like that. It's MY job to do that!" he growled. Escargon glanced at him,

"I don't think that was a Girl Scout, sire." he said quietly, and Dedede thumped him on the head,

''I don't need your commentary! I just want to know how to get back at her!" Dedede said. Kirby sank into his own thoughts. Although Gothara's evil intentions bore unknown origins, her previous actions seemed to fit into the puzzle that was Meta Knight's disappearance. If she had gone so far as to freeze the king for whatever reason, then shouldn't she have likely kidnapped the knight for whatever reason? Perhaps Meta Knight knew what Gothara's intentions were, and to keep him quiet, kidnapped him. Kirby did not want to think that Gothara had done more than kidnap his friend to keep her secrets buried.

And, if Gothara had Meta Knight, she would be in space by now, going to her next destination, wherever it might be. Kirby knew but one way to pursue the devious visitor, but it was a method that only he and Meta Knight knew, and kept secret between them. But, Kirby felt this was an emergency, a problem in which he could not hold up that promise of secrecy. If it would save Meta Knight, and possibly stop Gothara in whatever her plans were then...Kirby had to do it.

He recieved everyone's attention. "Girl called Gothara." he said in a small voice, slightly hardened by his seriousness, "She come, and left, and Meta Knight is missing." A ripple of shock went through his listeners, "I think she kidnap him. She come in ship, and I know how to follow." Kirby said, uncertainy now shining through his eyes. How could he possibly pull off this method on his own? He would end up giving away the secret pointlessly, breaking his promise, and worst of all, Dedede would know about it. He realized what Dedede could do with something like this, and shook it away irritably. Surely nothing could go wrong? He realized he had hesitated quite long, and everyone was staring at him curiously. Kirby continued slowly, "Meta Knight and me keep secret. We can use to find him." Kirby said. He pointed yonder, toward the woods, "Follow me." Kirby said, trotting off in the direction of the forest, where Gothara had first crashed-landed.

Kirby and company arrived at a large cave that yawned toward them in the dying sunlight. Kirby motioned them inside, and he followed last. The pink puff moved cautiously through the darkness, feeling strangely unsettled by so many unexplained shadows within the cavern. He felt his foot touch a door on the floor, and gripped at it with his pink paw, "Over here," he invited, and lifted the trap door opening. Revealed beneath it was a flight of dark stairs that plunged blow their feet into shadows. He led them down cautiously, reluctantly, hoping he wouldn't end up exposing a well-hidden secret just to find out he could do nothing with it.

Kirby led them onward, and nearly slipped on a step, but managed to guide them down the stairs safely, into a pitch black room. He heard uneasy murmuring from his lot, and felt along the wall for the light switch. Kirby's paw ran over a lever on the wall, and he gripped it firmly, yanking it downward with all of his tiny strength. There was a low rushing sound, and light blared the room. Kirby screwed his eyes up at the sudden change of light in his vision, and rubbed his face, blinking rapidly. When his vision cleared, he heard shocked exclamtions from everyone.

"What..." Fumu gasped in wonder.

"Is that..." Bun began, and Dedede simply gawked, awe-struck. Kirby could only imagine what he was thinking about this.

"It's...incredible..." Fumu breathed, "Is that..."

"Yes," Kirby murmured, his own eyes shining with excitement, "Halberd..."

Before them loomed the great battleship, recently repaired and refurbished, its metal hide shining gloriously to all around it.

"That's how we save Meta Knight." Kirby mumbled, his grip on Galaxia's hilt tightening determinedly.


	9. Chapter 8: What to Look Forward to

~Chapter 8~

_**WARNING. THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A VERY GOREY ANIMAL MOMENT.**_

Gothara felt her eyelids drooping. How long had it been since she took off from Popstar?

Nearly three hours.

When was the last time she slept?

Nearly two days.

And Gothara's sleeps were not quite the best. Even though she slept a hell of a lot better than Iri, what with her carpet-lined cockpit area. Usually she would flick her ship into Auto-pilot and lie down on the carpet to sleep. She had been so eccentric of finding and aquiring Popstar that sleep was the last thing on her mind. She stifled a yawn, and rubbed her eyes. Gothara felt drained, and wondered if Iri felt like this all the time. _Good._ She told herself. Hopefully Iri felt worse than this.

Gothara yawned again, and this time decided she would shut her eyes for a minute, since her Daddy's asteroid would not come into view for another half-hour. She switched on Auto-pilot, and settled on the carpeted floor. She felt content when her ship was in self-awareness mode, able to automatically keep on track of her destination and dodge projectiles while Gothara could rest. The _Covet_ was like _Terminator_, only without the robot attitude.

Before Gothara could sleep, she remembered her 'gift,' that she kept under the dashboard in a tiny cage. She glance backward at her prisoners, and decided to send a little scare to Iri one last time, and perhaps the new one too. She crawled under the space under the dashboard, and withdrew a small cage that mewled at her as she exposed it to the dim lights inside the ship.

Meta Knight could see Gothara moving about, and suspicion went into play. Iri had been sleeping soundly while she leaned on him, and now she was blinking awake. Her mouth and chest were splattered with dry blood, but she didn't appear to look as if she would have another attack. Iri pulled up, and blinked hazily in Gothara's direction. Suddenly, the little girl turned toward them, holding a white cage with a dark shape that moved about inside. Gothara advanced toward them, strange sounds coming from her cage.

Iri suddenly gasped, and recoiled. She covered her face with her eyes with a loud whimper, and shrank into the wall. Meta Knight blinked at her, and turned a red-eyed glare on the approaching Gothara. Whatever scared Iri this much would have to suffer. Gothara placed the cage on the ground, smiling deviously as she undid the latch on the cage. A strange creature hobbled out.

Iri cried out, kicking her feet and pressing herself as far against the wall as possible, "No! No!" she cried, "No please!" Gothara made a mock sad face, and picked up the limp-gaited creature,

"Oh? Iri doesn't want to play with Snoogy one last time?" she cooed, her glaring eyes betraying her enjoyment, "But you know Snoogy has a life span of thiry days, and today is his last day? He wanted to say 'bye-bye,' before he expired." Gothara walked right up to them, but out of Meta Knight's reach. She placed the creature called Snoogy down, and Iri went hysterical.

Meta Knight could see why. He stared in horror at the mangled creature that stared back at him. It was a cat, but something horrible had happened to it. Its mud-colored pelt was matted and ruffled, and on its back were two different wings of different sizes. One appeared to be a butterfly wing, enlarged to support the cat's size, but it looked pale and mangled. The other wing appeared like a larger twist of feathers, as if the wing had been broken in several places and never fixed. The cat's paws appeared swollen, its claws each enlarged and sticking out of the paw grotesquely, so they didn't retract. The cat's eyes were a revolting sight as well. One dark green eye appeared beady and sunken into the skull, while the other dark eye seemed too big for the creature's eye socket. The ears were a shredded mess, and there was no tail. Meta Knight noticed that in some places on the cat's legs, and a patch on the chest, bone was showing.

But the worst part was that the _cat's heart was on the outside._ Two viens that connected to it emerged from the skin, one from the cat's neck and the other from the hole in its chest like a horrible necklace. Snoogy blinked, its enlarged eye too large for his eyelids. He let out a strange cry that sounded quite low-pitched and gurgly. Tears were streaming down Iri's face, "Take him away! Take him away!" she screamed, scrambling behind Meta Knight for protection. Meta Knight could not tear his eyes away from the hideous sight as the cat limped forward on its mutilated paws. Gothara gave the cat a demonic, sympathetic look,

"Poor Snoogy. He was one of Daddy's most successful creations. He lived the longest, but Daddy says he would expire in a month. He said when Snoogy expires, I could get another pet." She kneeled down to pet Snoogy, who made a strangled rumbling sound from its throat, "Snoogy was supposed to be the strongest cat in the universe, with the ability to fly, but Daddy said something went wrong. Snoogy..." She looked sadly at the animal, "Oh, Snoogy. Don't worry. I'll love your replacement just as much as you. And soon I will have wings...like you." Snoogy didn't look at her, but seemed to stare unblinkingly at Meta Knight, as if it knew who would be the next victim. Iri had stopped screaming for a second, staring back at Snoogy. Gothara laughed, "If you're lucky, Daddy will make you his next most successful mutation, like Snoogy." she said. Suddenly she backed away, and the cat retched loudly, as if it were trying to hack up a hairball.

But what came out was a bloody clump of organ pieces. Iri shrieked and hid her eyes. Meta Knight also turned away hearing nothing but the cat's gagging. Gothara was giggling over the sickening din. Now Snoogy was not only choking up its enternal oragans, it was crying out in agony as well. Its twisted, agonized, demented cries warped by its unnatural coughing. When Meta Knight glanced at it, the sight made him gasp in disgust and shock. The cat was not just dying, _it was melting._

Chunky, bloody matter was dangling out of its ears, as if its brain had started dissolving as well. Piles of coughed up organs and fluids lay around it. Its skin appeared to be giving out as well, sheets of its flesh shedding off along with mounds of fur. Bones began to jut out of the body, and the eyes rolled over, melting into bloody jelly. The mangled teeth fell right out, and the tongue slid out as well, hitting the floor with a wet _plop._ The whole body finally fell with one last indescribable tone from the creature's throat, which was melted open. Viens and organs lay in steaming heaps among the broken, torn bits of flesh and fur, and the jaws seperated as the cry left Snoogy's mouth. All that was left was a smoking pile of cat pieces, guts and all, and amid the hellish death, Gothara laughing maniacally, as if the scene had just tickled her to tears.

Minutes later, the organs and skin melted into a thin red puddle, drying into a hard sheet on the ground, becoming part of the ship's floor. Meta Knight felt nothing but horror, anger, and the desire to get out of this place. Get out, somehow and escape with Iri too, before they arrived on the asteroid. Iri looked at him with eyes full of tears and...something else. "Are you alright?" he asked, and Iri nodded slowly. Suddenly she spoke, her voice sounding strange, sort of...breeze-like and faraway,

"I am...Snoogy said something..." she murmured. Meta Knight blinked, and listened to her continue, "Snoogy was talking to you, to me, he was saying..." Iri glanced nervously at Gothara, sleeping on her carpeted area, and went on, "He said he had ten more years before Gothara's father messed him up. He said..." Iri looked strained, scared suddenly, and her gaze wandered to the hardened remains of the cat, "He was kidnapped too. Gothara's Daddy did horrible things to creatures and some died worse than Snoogy. Snoogy knew that she was taking you to her Daddy. He said Gothara's Daddy would do to you what he did to Snoogy...guiltless...secretly...he doesn't care who...suffers..." Iri's hands pressed her head, as if she felt horrible pain. Meta Knight grabbed her wrist,

"What do you mean, Iri? What..." Iri looked at him, eyes full of pain and sadness,

"He did something to me too." she whispered, "I can hear animals, alive and dead...I can see how they die..." she whimpered.


	10. Chapter 9: The Pursuit of Desperation

~Chapter 9~

The battleship's doors lowered with a loud whirring sound, and Kirby watched as Fumu and Bun mounted inside. He saw the King and Escargon trying to get on, but Kirby lept to intercept them. Perhaps it was just the fact that the mission could be dangerous, or the fact that he wouldn't trust either of these two with his life, but Kirby did not want them coming with him. Dedede glared as Kirby barred the way in,

"Out of the way, pinky." he growled. Kirby shook his head, undaunted,

"You stay at castle." Kirby said firmly, pointing at the exit. The pair still tried to move by him,

"That little girl's got a world of pain coming at her. Let us in!" Escargon said, but Kirby still refused to move. To his relief, Fumu came out behind him. Hopefully they could get through this without much trouble. His blonde friend shook her head,

"Maybe you two should stay behind." she said. Before either of them could argue, Fumu continued, "If Gothara comes back, thinking you are still frozen, she will try to take over. You need to protect the castle, and the village." she said. Dedede looked thoughtful for a second, and Kirby breathed silent thanks for Fumu's interference.

"That's right! She'll probably be bringing a whole army of invaders. We'll need to be ready." Dedede agreed, and he and Escargon moved away from the Halberd. Fumu retreated back inside, and Kirby found himself waving goodbye before disappearing inside as well.

As of right now, a large opening in the cave ceiling was visible, enabling the Halberd to fly out. Kirby stepped uncertaintly up to the helm of the ship, gripping the steering wheel with paws shaky with nerves. How could he possibly pilot a ship with kids on board? He barely had any expierience in the matter. He remembered sadly how Meta Knight had shown him the ship while it was still in repairs, and how he promised to show him to pilot it in case of emergancy. He recalled a possible tone of regret in his friend's voice from the memory. And Kirby felt even less sure of himself.

What if he'd condemned him and his friends to death?

Just then Fumu and Bun walked in, and as he turned to see them, Fumu stepped up to him, patting him reassuringly, "You can do it, Kirby." she murmured. Kirby blew a sigh of still uncertainty, and hardened his eyes. His grip tightened, and carefully, he reached for a nearby lever to change the ship's gears. His paw traveled over the dashboard, recalling the ignition, and activated it. The Halberd roared to life. The floor beneath his feet trembled as the engine started. There was a creak as the cave began to scroll past the windshield, slowly at first, with growing speed. Kirby felt a bump and heard a scrape as the ship nudged the walls rising. With a panicked start, Kirby tried to steer the ship to cease the clumsiness of the ascend.

A few more shrieks against the cave walls, a sudden flash of sun and then...

In the air.

Kirby turned the wheel, feeling the lightness of the air support the Halberd body, and turned skyward. He tried his best to keep the ship on track. Fumu's eyes were wide with surprise and relieved fright. She smiled warmly at her pink puffball friend, "You're doing okay, Kirby. Just focus on the sky. We're flying smoothly." she said encourangingly. Kirby suddenly realized they had no idea where Gothara could have flown off to. With a sinking feeling, Kirby tried not to think that he would have to land or simply fly blindly out into space,

"Poyo! Where fly to?" Kirby cried. Fumu gasped at the realization, and she too looked hopeless, until Bun suddenly ran up,

"I might have something to help." he said, placing something on the dashboard. Kirby looked at it, identifying it as some sort of chainless locket resembling half a heart. He recalled some kids back at Cappy Town had similar lockets, two with halves that fit into each other and would spell 'Best Friends,' or something. This piece had no designed writing on it, except for some words scratched into it that said _1grid unit=10astro. miles_, and when Kirby turned it over, he saw a screen. On the tiny screen was a green grid, with blinking red and blue dots. The red dot appeared blinking over a landscape, moving steadily away from it. The blue dot was cruising in a completely straight line, save for a few turns, quite a distance from the red dot. Kirby noticed that the scratching on the charm's front was some sort of equation, and he looked at Bun,

"Where get?" he asked.

"That Gothara dropped it when she was herding the ice sculptures. I thought I saw the other half dangling out of her pocket. I think it's a tracker. What luck!" he replied with growing optimism.

Kirby sighed. How convienient. Here he was, with the options of either give up or go on nothing, and Bun comes up with a tracker. An actual tracker! One could laugh at how smooth and convienient this was going, but one could also suppose that it could all be a coincedince. Whatever, no one can blame Kirby and his lot for being lucky. Somehow, something else will probably go horribly wrong to make up for their good fortune, but saying that would spoil the ending. Anyway...

Fumu turned the charm over in her hand, and commented, "If this is a tracker, then scratched here is the porportion that represents it. If I can solve it, we can find out how far away Gothara is. May I, Kirby?" she asked. Kirby nodded, glad he brought Fumu along. He didn't much know about math. While Fumu converted the grid units to astronomcal units, and Bun was pretending to be in a _Star Wars_ movie, Kirby focused the brunt of his attention on driving. They were breaking through the atmoshere, and the ship began shaking as it burst upward. Kirby could feel heat seeping inside, and see the plates of the battleship glow red. Still speeding up, everyone gasped as a rough turbulence issued through the ship, "Stratosphere." Fumu murmued.

Another bump, "Mesosphere." Fumu said. It suddenly felt cold.

Another bump, this one stronger than the previous, "Thermosphere..." Fumu gasped. Kirby pushed on the speed, determined to break out of the atmosphere in one piece. There was a final, turbulent wave that sent the interior of the ship shaking and bouncing, and Kirby feared for a climatic moment that the ship was about to give out. Fumu was clinging to the dashboard fearfully, and Bun was clinging to her. Kirby willed the ship on.

There was a roar as the rockets shot a train of flames, and the turbulence subsided abruptly, leaving them gliding through the velvet of space. Kirby cheered in relief, Fumu tried to breath evenly again, and Bun cheered along with Kirby. They were still alive.

But for how much longer? Kirby wondered fearfully.

Soon, the _Covet _landed. The sky above was gray and the terrain below was rough, rocky, and desolate. A few scraggly trees rooted in the cracks, fed by a bit of stream water that dibbled sparcely through the desert. A stiff wind blew over the land. Gothara stepped out, breathing in the thin air.

Home, sweet home.

She locked the doors of her ship and proceeded to the large facility nearby.

The Institution of Advanced Genetics, it was called. The magical place where innocent animals were plucked from their homes, mutated savagely, brutally. Tested cruelly, and sometimes left to die if a failure, or live in agony if they were successful. Gothara beamed. This was where Daddy worked. "Such a beautiful place Daddy lives," Gothara sighed dreamily.

She strode haughtily up to the double doors, and held out a paw to push her way in.

The doors held. Gothara blinked and pushed the doors, to no avail. She pulled them, and still no result. She realized they must be locked.

But Daddy never locked the doors, in case Gothara would come for him. She pounded the doors and kicked them and shouted in to them, with still no response. Angrily, she let out a scream of frustration into the air, "I can't belive this! Stupid man! He knows I could come whenever I want! This asteroid stinks too! I hate this place, and why does my life always suck? Why do I have to be stuck with a stupid sister, and be fighting everyday for what I want? Why is life so hard?" She flung herself on the ground, pounding fists into the dust, kicking, serving up a full-blown temper tantrum.

She only stopped screeching when a horrid headache inched its way into her head, from lack of decent oxygen. She rubbed her temples, and groaned angrily. Calmed, she only now noticed the sticky-note stuck to the inside of the dark windowed doors. She leaned against the glass, and read her Daddy's handwriting, which were letter tidbits from magazines glued together to form words. Kind of like how murderers and felons write randsom notes. It read:

_Dear little Gothie,_

_Daddy is a very busy man, you know._

_Sometimes he can't always be at home for his little angel._

_Daddy went to Steam City to look for more animals._

_Come by in a few weeks to see what I have obtained! _

_I'll have a new pet for you by then too. _

_Hugs and Smooches,_

_Daddy_

Gothara growled in frustration. A few weeks? She would not wait that long for her wings! She knew she wasn't going back to Dreamland without wings. Gothara marched in the dust angrily, ignoring the painful pulse of a headache in her head as she pondered her possibilities, seeing as how her favorite would be to meet Daddy in Steam City. She stomped toward her ship, mumbling curses under her breath. It would make sense for her Daddy to go to Steam City, considering it was right smack in the middle of a jungle region.

Jungles mean diverse with wildlife, which means diverse in mutations. Yes, when Gothara got to Steam City, she'd give her Daddy what was coming to him for leaving at this time. Then she'd recieve a new pet and a new set of wings. Possibilities of her future as queen of Popstar ran through her head as her ship rose from the asteroid.

Like...her Daddy could come to live with her in Dreamland, to be her royal scientist.

...And...Iri would be eliminated once she got back...

And...Kirby would be talked into being her servant...

And Meta Knight would...well...Gothara didn't know _that_ just yet.

Perhaps it was for the best.


	11. Chapter 10: Not Perfect

~Chapter 10~

Gothara had been grumbling incoherent curses all throughout the ride. Iri had thought for sure that this would've been the last time she'd see Meta Knight, but obviously something happened that Gothara would turn back. Iri assumed they weren't letting her in the Institute, for her sister would have been able to get in if it were any other reason. Iri wished she could find out the next course of action, but being placed in this convieniately hidden corner made it hard to cataloug anything. She glanced sideways at Meta Knight, who appeared to stare at the opposite walls, lost in thought. She wondered if he hoped there was a way out for him. She wondered if he wanted to kill Gothara now.

She knew that no one would be able to kill cute-faced Gothara at first sight, but after she attacked you, took you prisoner, you would want to get at her. She was no longer innocent-looking and cute once you expierienced what kind of demonic things she could do to you. However, not one of her victims could possibly have any revenge, considering they were all dead, or worse.

Iri would guiltily admit that she'd rather see her sister dead than alive like this. Iri had even had thoughts of killing Gothara, free her from the weight of insanity that afflicted her so badly, but she didn't have the will to do so, or the material to initiate a kill. She sighed, and the hollow feeling of despair and discomfort seeped into her. Suddenly Meta Knight turned and looked at her, "What did you mean...when you said he did something to you?" he asked slowly. Iri blinked, remembering what seemed so long ago how she had endured the agony of listening to Snoogy the cat's gruesome death. She had forgotted she had said that, and replied carefully,

"Gothara's Daddy...did something to my head. Gothara said if she was going to keep me around, then I needed to have some power or ability." she said, and looked back at Meta Knight. He appeared to be listening intently. She took a breath, slightly unnerved, and went on, "She paid him, and told him he could do whatever he wanted as long as I stayed alive during the experiment. I fought, I tried to get away but he tied me down and sedated me..." she took a shuddering breath and went on, "He did something to my brain...and when I woke up I could hear the animals he captured. They were crying...screaming...in agony and begging someone to help. I was so scared...they were all yelling at me, begging me to rescue them...but I...couldn't..."

Tears appeared in Iri's eyes, but she tried not to let them show, "Whenever I looked at them, I would see a flash of their...bodies. How they would die. I saw some melted, some wounded, some burnt to ashes...some mutilated...I was so scared that I was messed up, and I would die like them...I heard Gothara's Daddy saying that I'd probably die in a few years, though he wasn't sure how many..." Iri cringed suddenly, and put her arms around her face, her sobbing warped her words, making her hard to understand, "I...don't want to die here. I don't mind dying...but _I don't want to die here!_ I don't want my last memory to be of Gothara...the way she is...I don't..." Her words finally gave way to convulsive sobbing, her body shuddering as tears dripped down her face and arms, making the dried blood on her cheeks run. Meta Knight could not bear to see her cry, and edged closer for comfort.

Gothara could see a planet in her view as she neared closer. It was a variety of green shades, indicating forest and jungle areas. There was also a long tendril of steam circling over one region, and identified it as Steam City. She smiled, and eased on the speed. Soon, so soon...she would have wings, and she would be royal, she would neverbe denied her wishes again. Life would be perfection, utter perfection, and no one would dare stand in her way. Gothara would soon become so powerful, not even the laws of nature would go against her words. She could control space, physics, and time if she so wished it! Yes, a universe where Gothara would rule...

Gothara could see her impossible life before her eyes, tasting, relishing each moment sweetly, as she descended into the steam cloud over the City, looking for a suitable place to land. She let out a trill of laughter, but it turned into a disbelieving scream as something caught her eye in the relfection of the windshield. Was something following her? She cursed her dead Mommy for not getting rear-view mirrors for this ship, and flipped it to Auto-pilot. She opened the door, and stepped outside a bit, the winds whipping her dark hair and ears as she cast her sight out behind the ship. She gasped in shock, "No. NO!"

Tailing her was a huge, collossal battleship, its bow unmistakably resembling someone she was holding hostage.

It was the Halberd, somehow caught up to the _Covet_, and pursuing her closely.

Gothara let out a horrible bout of violent curses and jumped back inside, cursing herself for traveling at such a liesurely pace. Would she have to take down the battleship, that was nearly four times as big as her own? And how, since her ship bore no firearms. The ship jerked harshly, and the smell of burnt metal shifted through the air. "No, they've hit me..." Gothara growled, seeing the train of black smoke pour off of the _Covet's _stern. She pulled out her gun, and stepped back outside the ship, setting the gears of her pistol to Rocket Launcher.

_Bang! Bang!_ Two rockets shot from the pistol, pushing Gothara back inside from the force. They honed on the Halberd, and crashed into its body, leaving barely a dent. _Covet_ lurched again, as the massive battleship behind them tried to ram Gothara's ship.

Iri's eyes were wide with panic, "What's happening?" She cried, but Meta Knight could also see the ship in the windshield reflection. His ship, the Halberd, had come! But, the only one who knew of the battleship's existence was his apprentice, Kirby, but that would mean...

Was Kirby _piloting_ the Halberd?

The knight felt an even stronger desire to get out, and he was prepared to eliminate Gothara this time, ready to show her what happens when she tried to threaten he and his friends. He would have run forward, if the chain that kept him in place wasn't also attatched to Iri. He wished he wasn't so useless, and the thought of sitting here idly made his eyes glow dark red. He looked at Iri, "We have to break this chain," he said. Iri looked at him, wondering how they could possibly achieve such a thing. Meta Knight nodded at the pipe the chain was tied around, "We'll try to break the pipe off, and run!" He commanded, and Iri nodded, although unsure of how much use she could be with her weakened demeanor. Simutaneously, both prisoners pulled in the same direction, putting strain on their tether as much as possible. Iri was grunting with the effort, in obvious discomfort as the collar tightened its grip on her neck.

"No! Not now! My world will be perfect!" Gothara was screaming frantically, running up and down the ship in a state of horrible insanity, "Perfect! I will rule you all, I will get my wings! _I will kill you all!_" she was screeching like something demented flying out of Hades. Suddenly she stopped, fixing her pair of struggling prisoners in a dangerous gaze. She ignored the next thump that was issued to her ship, and advanced to the dashboard. Her hand was reaching for a large red button...

Iri's eyes widened, "No..." she breathed, her gaze darting from the button to the trap door by her feet. Gothara was about to relive her nightmares...

Meta Knight had caught her gaze, and realized what was happening. Gothara punched down on the red button, and in that same moment the blue knight jumped toward the door, pushing Iri away.

The door swung open, and tore away by the force of the still-accelerating ship. The wind rushed in, sucking everything into its death-grip current. Meta Knight was immeadiately swept off his feet with a gasp of surprise. Iri shrieked, and suddenly she was yanked backwards, toward the pipe that restrained her. Her collar and body bumped right up against it, losing her chain as Meta Knight was sucked out of the trap door, and was pulled by the slipstream toward the rockets that burnt heavily with the ship's increasing speed.

There was a simutaneous scream from Iri, and everyone on the Halberd.

It was Iri's nightmare come to life, but much, much worse. Iri would have to watch Meta Knight die in the horrible way she probably would soon.

She tried to pull the chain, to hoist the puffball knight back inside before the slipstream force became too strong, but at that second Gothara hurled herself at Iri, slashing at her sister with serrated claws.


	12. Chapter 11: A Story of Two Sisters

~Chapter 11~

_This is it..._

Kirby saw Meta Knight fly from the base of the ship, his small body being pulled toward the huge blue flames that shot from the back end of the ship. He gave a cry of alarm and descended slightly, pulling the Halberd directly underneath. He turned to Fumu, "Take wheel!" he shouted, and let go, jumping to the floor as Fumu fearfully assumed his position. Kirby reached for Galaxia, which he had left on the floor near him. Kirby was sprinting as fast as his small feet would allow, trying to support Galaxia's weight as well. He ascended flights of stairs, desperately willing his feet to go faster and his endurance to hold out while he ran to the ship's exterior.

Iri was struggling as well, Gothara's paws were scratching and cutting bloody furrows down her face painfully, and gripping at her neck. Her sister's face was twisted in a state of demented anger and murderous vegeance. She was definately trying to make her pay, make everyone pay for infereing with her plans of domination. Iri knew Gothara would kill her ruthlessly, in cold blood and walk away guiltless. She could tell she was escpecially mad for Meta Knight, who would've provided her wings, getting sucked outside the ship rather than Iri. Gothara's bloody hands were grabbing at Iri's throat, ready to strangle the life out of her.

Meta Knight was caught in the slipstream, the current violently pulling him toward the wall of blue flames while the chain on his wrist kept him dangling painfully in place. He saw the Halberd below, and Kirby running on the deck, something golden and glinting in his ! Kirby had Galaxia, but what good could that do? How could he still be saved? He could hear the distant screams of Gothara, and the pained cries of Iri, and wondered if this was truely the end. He had intercepted Iri, gotten her away from the door to protect her, only for her to be murdered by the paws of her own sister. Outrage threatened to engulf him, hot as the streams of flame that threatened to sever his body from his arm. He should have killed that horrible, insane little girl when he had the chance! Why, why did he hesitate at the moment of action? He wouldn't be flying toward death, and Iri wouldn't be suffering! Whipping out his wings, Meta Knight tried to fight the slipstream, to fly back up into the magenta ship he dangled from, but the current was pulling too hard. He could feel the chain digging into his skin, and a painful sensation as the current prepared to rip his arm from the socket. It seemed all he could do was hang on and endure.

Iri kicked at Gothara, trying to force her away. But the terrible pressure on her throat was intense, ready to cut off her breathing completely. She scratched at Gothara's hands, trying to pull them away from her, but she was too weak. Her senses were fading into a tempting darkness, she could see her sight going tunnel-vision. _I dont want to die like this no Gothara is trying to kill me I dont want to die at Gotharas paws I dont want her to be the one to kill her..._ Iri's dimming mind was beginning to wander to past memories, strangely enough...

_Iri was talking to a baby wrapped up in pink sheets. The baby's face was the only part visible, chubby and pale with wide, shiny red eyes and blushes. A little button nose twitched as it catalouged the scents into its tiny memory. Iri's eyes were wide, shining, she was beaming, "Oh Mommy, I love my little sis already." she said. Her Mommy was laying in a hospital bed, cradling the baby close. Iri poked the baby's nose gently, causing a little trill of giggles, "Mommy, can we call her Gothara? I heard of a storybook princess called Gothara." _

_"I was planning to call her Irene, but Gothara's a nice name too. So...Gothara." Mommy said, and the baby gave a toothless grin as if in approval._

_Then there was..._

_"Mommy, it snowed outside! Can I take Gothara to see?"_

_"Sure, but remember to dress warmly." Mommy reminded them. Iri led her toddler sister outside, both bundled up in several layers of clothes. Iri had showed Gothara how to make a snow angel, and a snowman._

_"That's a cute snow angel, Gothie. The wings fit you really well."_

_"Ings?" Gothie murmured. _

_"Yep, you are a little angel, after all. It's a surprise you weren't born with wings." Iri commented. Gothie smiled gratefully._

_And..._

_"Mommy, Gothie's crying. She's really hot..." Iri murmured sadly. Mommy frowned, _

_"Go calm her down, Iri, I'll be right there." she said, and Iri darted to Gothie's room. Her two-year-old sister was wailing pitifully, her face reddened and tear-streaked. Iri was at her side in an instant, rubbing her back and hugging her close. "I'm here, Gothie. Do you need anything?" she asked soflty. Gothie sniffed, her nose starting to run again and looked up at her sister with reddened, teary eyes,_

_"Wa-wa...ter." Her sister said in her broken baby voice. Iri had run from the room, returning in record time with a glass of water. She made sure to put ice in it. She helped her sister drink a little before putting the glass up. Gothie weaved her paw into Iri's, looking scared to go back to a nightmare-imbued sleep. Iri smiled in sympathy,_

_"Don't worry, Gothie. I remember when I had the flu like you...it was awful..." she knealt down beside Gothie, kissing her gently on the forehead, "I will take care of you. Mommy will take care of you...always..."_

_Always._

_I showed you infinite kindness...and you kill me. I tell you I will always be there for you, and you try to make sure I suffer. I loved you, Gothara, but when you killed Mommy...I doubted you. But Gothie, you should know...I still love you. I promised...I would always love you..._

_I promised...I still love you..._

_Still love you..._

_Love you..._

_Love..._

_..._

Air rushed into Iri's lungs through her battered throat, gagging on the oxygen she was almost sure was lost to her. The pressure on her throat was gone, but it still felt compressed. She rubbed it tenderly.

Was she dead? Or...

Her sight catalouged the ship's interior around her, the tight collar around her neck, and

Gothara, standing over her, looking stunned.

Iri tried to move toward her, but there was no chain left on her half. She reached toward Gothara, who stared at her as if she didn't recognize what was happening. Suddenly Gothara pitched forward, falling into Iri's arms, wrapping her own around her big sister. Iri lookedat her, surprised, and Gothara stared back up at her, scarlet eyes shiny and wide with innocence. There was no trace of her former character she had possessed for so many years. She was looking into the face she thought she lost forever.

Suddenly, Iri felt horribly weak, and a burning sensation issued inside of her. What was happening? Iri's chest convulsed, and another bout of bloody coughs blew through her mouth. She felt herself sinking to the floor. _What's happening? What...Is it my time...?_ Was it time for Iri to expire? Fire raged in her skull, making it feel as if her brain was being incernerated within her head. Her limbs felt useless, and her eyes were dimming. Blood was dripping from her mouth, speckling Gothara's robe. But the little one did not respond except for her to lift her head and cry, "I want my Mommy!"

Iri blinked hazily at Gothara. Did she forget that she killed Mommy? Gothara was looking at Iri, then the trap door, then Iri again, "I want...Mommy..." she said. Iri felt another convulsion, and wondered if Gothara was really asking for what she thought she was asking for. Gothara prodded Iri, "Mommy...I want her...nothing else...I don't know why, but I want Mommy. I..." She buried her face in Iri's chest, and Iri stroked her gently, now knowing what she had to do.

With her last exertion of energy, she pulled against the strain on her collar, with Gothara pulling her along the way. Iri stood at the door's edge, Gothara clinging to her tightly. Iri planted a kiss on her head, "We'll see Mommy soon..." she murmured.

Meta Knight could feel his own senses being sucked out of his grasp. His arm felt useless, broken, and somehow the flames were getting closer. He heard nothing from above. Was Iri dead? Would he soon be dead? He suddenly heard his name from below, and Kirby stood with Galaxia poised to throw. Was Kirby going to _throw_ him his sword? "Poyo!" screamed Kirby, and he sent the sword flying skyward. Meta Knight reached for the sacred sword, but suddenly his link of chain was pulled upward, pulling him out of reach of the sword.

Iri held Gothara tightly as the wind whipped her face. She saw a golden sword flying toward Meta Knight, but as Iri had jumped, it had pulled Meta Knight out of the way, while she and Gothara plunged. Like a pulley. Iri passed Meta Knight on the way down. If the knight had not been wearing his mask, it would have surely betrayed his shock and surprise. Iri passed him, giving him a look of infinite kindness, like she had displayed to Gothie when she was young. There was also something else hidden in her gaze. _Love?_ No one would be able to confirm it, for at that second, something else happened that seemed to quick to comprehend. As the sword flew up, Iri reached toward it, gripping its hilt. As soon as she touched it, and agonizing bolt of electricity circuited through her, signalling Galaxia's rejection of the wielder. But Iri did not drop the hilt, but swung it. The golden blade sheared through the chain that attatched to her collar, and the broken link streamed after her as the ship's slipstream snared Iri and her sister. Iri dropped Galaxia, letting it fall back to the Halberd, and suddenly it was very hot.

Nothing but blue in her vision, and heat in her senses. She hugged Gothie close, her eyes drooping as her expiration drew close, "I love you, Gothie. I promised I'd always love you." she whispered. Her eyes closed, and a searing heat pierced her body. But she barely felt it now, she was already somewhere far away...

"Poyo..." Kirby watched in shock as two girls, one being Gothara, flew to the ship's rockets. Their silloettes were clear at first in front of the flames, but they faded, almost immeadiately.

Meta Knight had watched Iri and Gothara, arm in arm, fly into their deaths. Iri, who was suffering into a slow death, and Gothara, who was engulfed in insanity. Both of them meeting a quick end. Even though Meta Knight had not known what happened while he had precariously swung from his chain, he somehow sensed peace between the sisters had been made, and now they were off to relive a life of love, motherly love and escpecially sisterly love. Forever.

He took ahold of _Covet's_ controls, landing the small ship on the deck of the Halberd, where he met with Kirby, Fumu, and Bun in a joyful reunion. The ship was turned home, to Popstar, and along the way, Meta Knight told them a story of two sisters, their conflicted relationship, and in the end, their repaired sisterly love as they flew toward their eternal peace.

When they arrived at Popstar, they went to the place where Gothara's ship had first crashed, and parked her ship there permanently. The engine was removed and hidden, and th ship itself turned into a memorial for the lost sisters. Today, on the wing where Meta Knight had found the word _Covet,_ new words were writ:

_Covet_

_A Story of Two Sisters_

And, to this day, this remains the first adventure where the Halberd was not destroyed.


End file.
